'Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu' Review: A fun, but misunderstood, Star Wars adventure

From the start of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, you can tell that everything about it is elevated compared to its TV counterpart. The production level, costumes, score, and sense of scale have all risen. The priority, however, remains on the action-adventure coupled with the dynamic between the two titular characters. There are no true surprises to be found here or anything revolutionary for that matter–this is, at its core, a cinematic expansion of The Mandalorian, telling a larger chapter that opts towards a focus more on an action-fueled journey than any purposeful narrative thrust. For this intent and objective, the movie works. It truly is a Star Wars story on a smaller scale, and it’s not just three Mandalorian episodes stitched together–it’s cohesive and wraps around nicely. The stakes are low, and if you were expecting something more bombastic, you’ll be sorely disappointed. I went in expecting a fun planet-hopping adventure romp and left satisfied, with the exception of a few complaints.

Where The Mandalorian and Grogu shines is in its action-adventure formula. Lots of settings are explored, each offering unique, dynamic action sequences. The best example may be in the movie’s excellent opening, which includes a fabulous oner inside the hull of an AT-AT. Beyond this, the spectacle is taken to pit battles, aerial combat, and classic blaster and melee action on the ground in an assortment of locations. It always feels fresh, even if it’s not reinventing anything.

One key aspect that keeps the movie’s momentum going is its creature variety. It was hard to keep count of the many species involved in both the fights and other scenes, which really helps to separate this property from others in Star Wars. The standout ones have to be the Anzellans for me–it’s impossible not to love those guys. Lastly, the relationship between Din and Grogu through all of this is essentially the same as ever, but that doesn’t mean it’s not entertaining. Grogu remains extremely cute, and the few advancements he does make are great to watch.

What holds The Mandalorian and Grogu back is its lack of broad narrative and character evolution. Mando continues to be who he’s been on the TV series, while Grogu does not exactly take any significant steps forward regarding his development. There were certainly bits and pieces, and they were great in the moment, but there simply was not enough there to warrant a full movie. Further character moments and future implications would have benefited the overall story greatly. At the end of the film, I was left wondering what’s next, because the movie certainly did not answer that question.

While this is my main criticism, I had a couple more minor gripes. There were several segments across the movie that were fairly easy to predict, which circles back to the lack of surprises throughout. None of it was bad, but it was easy to see where some things were going. Additionally, Jeremy Allen White’s voice performance frequently came across as a bit odd and weak. It’s nothing that ruins the movie, but I also think his voice was contorted in such a way that it felt off.

The technical aspects of The Mandalorian and Grogu were amazing. Ludwig Göransson (Sinners, Oppenheimer) returned to score this film after working on the series and, just like the many other elements of the movie, heightened the already well-known music of The Mandalorian for the big screen. It’s more epic, remixed in a few places, but retains that Mandalorian feel. The visuals also held up across the movie, despite the need for heavy CGI at times. Nothing made me turn my head once. Even the sets were noticeably improved from the series, feeling much more real rather than Volume produced. Additionally, the physical puppetry with Grogu and the Anzellans was as excellent and charming as expected. Yes, at times it may look stiff, but it didn’t make a difference to me.

It’s true that The Mandalorian and Grogu had lower stakes than most other Star Wars movies. Many people simply had too lofty of hopes for this. But it’s important to judge the movie for what it is and not for what it isn’t. If you don’t like the actual contents of the film, that’s fine, but if you don’t like the concept of this type of Star Wars movie existing, then take it up with Kathleen Kennedy, the person who greenlit this, who also, by the way, doesn’t work as head of Lucasfilm anymore.

I say this because I have found much of the discourse surrounding the movie before its release to be pretty nonsensical. “It just looks like another episode of the show” is one complaint I keep seeing, but of course it does–these characters have only ever appeared in the series, and the show was already cinematic to begin with. Another criticism asks why a television extension is the first Star Wars movie in seven years, which I would answer with the fact that the first two seasons of The Mandalorian largely reunited the Star Wars fandom after the disaster that was The Rise of Skywalker, so it makes sense to build on that success in the form of a safe but crowd-pleasing film. Then there’s the question of why anyone should care about a Star Wars movie like this in the first place, which feels strange to me because, with that mindset, why care about any standalone adventure movie? This isn’t Episode X, nor is it trying to carry galactic-level stakes. It seems much more in line with something like Raiders of the Lost Ark: a fun, self-contained adventure built around likeable characters and a simple premise.

Could Star Wars’ return to theaters have been grander? Yes, absolutely. But that was not this movie’s problem to deal with. That was a problem, and still is a problem, for the higher-ups of Lucasfilm and Disney to figure out. Jon Favreau was simply tasked with creating a theatrical Mandalorian experience and I think he succeeded in that for the most part. I had a really great time with it for what it was.